Crockpot Whole Chicken
I set the whole chicken in the crockpot, sprinkled liberally with Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute, and added a few sprinkles of paprika. Covered the crockpot and cooked on high for about 4 hours. The chicken was good, and probably could’ve been cooked for less time, but it was still moist and flavorful. I didn’t add anything to elevate it above the drippings, so it was not crispy or anything, but the healthy thing to do is throw the skin away anyway, so this strategy kept things moist and removed any temptation I might have to eat the skin. We ate the chicken tonight and easily put away lots of chicken for the next few days. This would be a good way to get chicken for a casserole or another recipe calling for cooked chicken, and I foresee eating lots of salads with chicken on them using the leftovers. Easy, healthy, good, AND leftovers. An all around win.
Warming Minestrone Soup
This recipe was a hodgepodge of a few different recipes I found on line, so ended up being a creation of my own. I don’t know exactly what I did, but I hope I can recreate it, because I really liked it! This is the best approximation I can come up with:
olive oil to cover bottom of pot
1 yellow onion, medium diced to chopped
2 celery stalks, medium diced to chopped
4 carrots, sliced (with large parts of rounds sliced in half)
2 – 3 cloves of garlic
2 zucchini, quartered and sliced (small bite size pieces)
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped in bite size pieces
approximately 5 cups of veggie broth (I am fairly sure I ended up using more) (I’m a big fan of Trader Joe’s Hearty Veggie Broth – in a box, flavorful)
1 cup quinoa
1 28 oz or 2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes, with juice
1 15 oz can cannellini beans (rinsed & drained)
1/2 15 oz can chickpeas (rinsed & drained)
2 cups kale, stems removed
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon dried basil
salt & pepper to taste
parmesan to taste
1. Heat oil over medium heat, and add onions, carrots & celery. Cook about 5 minutes or until softened.
2. Add the garlic & a pinch of red pepper flakes and cook about one minute or until garlic begins to color (more red pepper flakes would suit me, but not the kids …).
3. Add about 3 cups of the broth and the tomatoes. Add the zucchini & the bell pepper. (I think you might be able to cook the zucchini & pepper some before the liquids if you have everything ready – I’m kind of a chop as I go chef and I needed to get the liquid in the pan before they were chopped.) Bring to a gentle boil (uncovered) and let simmer at this level for about 20 minutes.
4. Add the quinoa, cover and cook for 15 minutes (be sure you have enough liquid at this point – add more broth if needed).
5. Remove the cover, add the beans, more broth (or water) if needed, bring to a gentle boil, and cook for another5 minutes or just until the kale is tender. I would hold off on the kale until right before you are ready to eat – I prefer it just wilted. I also might add less at first if planning to have leftovers, and add more as I heat the leftovers.
6. Stir in the basil, salt & pepper, and the grated parmesan to taste.
Serve with more red pepper flakes, s&p, or grated parmesan if desired.
bon appetit!
This is the recipe I ended up following most closely (funny, I was going back & forth and didn’t realize how frequently I ended up following this one) – http://www.foodmatters.tv/articles-1/warming-minestrone-soup-with-quinoa-kale-free-recipe – I didn’t have green beans or would’ve likely thrown them in too. I chopped everything bigger, used broth instead of water, used diced tomatoes … omitted the turmeric, added dried basil …
SO yummy, and so healthy.
Fun & Focus 